domenica 12 maggio 2019

Kenwood TS-480 SAT audio cable for digi modes


I'm a happy owner of the rig Kenwood TS-480SAT, I will share how I made the audio cable to interface the rig to a computer to work with digital modes like FT-8.

The minidin connector named DATA in the rig manual is basically the same as the old PS/2 cable for mouse or pc keyboard.
You can take an old keyboard and cut the cable on the keyboard side,
remove the outer sheath and the common sheild and then, with the help of a tester,
find which pin is connected to which internal cable, taking note of the colors.
for example, below is my case
PS/2 TS-480 audio data cable



PS/2 male connector - front view:
Pin 1 - yellow
Pin 2 - green
Pin 3 - blue
Pin 4 - red
Pin 5 - brown
Pin 6 - black





On the rig side:
Pin 1 - GND
Pin 2 - to pc speaker
Pin 6 - to pc microphone

Then we will take two male jack 3.5mm connectors:

To pc mic:

PS/2 TS-480 audio data cable

Pin 1 connected to PS/2 pin 6 (black cable in my case)
Pin 2 not connected
Pin 3 GND to PS/2 pin 1 (yellow) and outer sheild











To pc speaker:

PS/2 TS-480 audio data cable

Pin 1 connected to PS/2 pin 2 (green cable in my case)
Pin 2 not connected
Pin 3 GND to PS/2 pin 1 (yellow) and outer sheild










For your convenience you can label the two jack connectors and use an usb sound card, as you see in the pic below, to leave the native pc sound card free.



 Maybe you have to polish the PS/2 connector to fit in the rig.
PS/2 TS-480 audio data cable





9 commenti:

  1. Hello<
    I wonder can you help with settings for WSJTX and audio output in order digimode (FT8) to work properly with TS480 ?

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. yes sure my friend
      what is your problem??
      you can write me directly to
      mulo83 AT gmail DOT com

      Elimina
  2. Hi !

    I have built the same audio cable for my TS-480. In WSJTX / FT8 I receive signals, but I can't transmit. Audio is coming out of the Soundcard, but nothing happens at the Transceiver. Is there a specail setting in WSJTX or in TS-480 ? Don't you need a cable for PTT on pin 4 somehow ?


    Any help will be appreciated.

    tnx es 73 de Alex, DK1ZX ( dk1zx@outlook.com )

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. hello!
      to switch the transceiver to TX i'm using the CAT interface, usb to serial cable. If you don't have it you can enable vox on ts-480 and under menu 60 "vox operation with data input" set to on.
      Let me know

      73

      Elimina
    2. and also under wstj-x options -> label radio -> ptt mode = vox

      Elimina
    3. Hi !
      I don't use a CAT-Cable, only the Audio-Cable.
      Menue 60 "Vox on Data input" was the solution, now it works. I had to
      play around a bit also with menue 46/47 AF-level for Data input/output and also with the TX-Power level in WSJTX, but now it's fine.

      Thanks a lot and 73 de Alex, DK1ZX

      Elimina
  3. Risposte
    1. PTT can be done via com port of 480 or vox option. I preffer via com port.

      Elimina
  4. If you touch pin 4 to ground, you should get PTT. But make sure you have DTS polarity (menu item 57) set to OFF. I just connect a CW key to pin 4 and ground and press down for PTT.

    RispondiElimina